But nearby developer objecting to David Chipperfield-designed scheme

Sir Robert McAlpine is in line to build a new £45m concert hall designed by David Chipperfield in Edinburgh.

The firm has signed a pre-construction services agreement for the scheme which will be the new home for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

The Dunard Centre – previously known as the Impact Centre – will be the Scottish capital’s first dedicated new space for music and the performing arts in more than a century and will have a 1,000-seat auditorium at its centre.

It is being built by International Music and Performing Arts Charitable Trust Scotland and will also include a studio providing rehearsal, recital and recording areas.

It was approved in April the city after a five-hour meeting following opposition by the developer of the £850m St James Centre, a neighbouring shopping centre and hotel complex currently being built by Laing O’Rourke.

But the scheme’s developer Nuveen Real Estate has made an application for a judicial review of the council’s decision to grant planning permission for the scheme.

Nuveen Real Estate, who has made several attempts to block the scheme, is objecting to the concert hall’s height, scale and mass.